Dr Reicher, a dermatologist living with his family in Lodz when war broke out, wrote much of this memoir during the war's early years in the Warsaw ghetto. The original version was destroyed during the ghetto uprising and re-written by Reicher after the war, translated into French, and only now published in English. We know from the outset that Reicher survives, yet the text reads quickly and suspensefully. And though he claims not to be a writer at all, Reicher knows how to insert details that resonate. The straightforward simplicity of style also enhances readability, while the story itself is nearly incredible. Reicher, his wife and small daughter spend the war in Poland in hiding in countless locales, and he recounts his 'adventures' with a dry detachment that would be amusing if it all weren't so terrifying and ugly.
Worth reading for his daughter's beautiful introduction alone.
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